Internet-speed-test-150x150Judging by the amount of searches done for the term "speed test" there seems to be a bit of an obsession with Internet speeds.

There are many online test tools that allow you to check your upload and download speeds.

In this tutorial I will effort to explicate how speed tests piece of work and what they are really telling you. Nosotros await at.:

  • What is a good download speed and upload speed?
  • What does Mbps mean?
  • Is a download speed of 10 Mbps expert? How fast is 10 Mbps
  • Does Internet speeds vary throughout the day.
  • Is it worth changing providers to become a faster net connection?

Agreement Internet Speed Tests

Internet speed tests volition give yous an upload speed and download speed.

Uploading refers to the process of transferring data from your reckoner to the Internet, and downloading refers to transferring data from the Internet to your calculator.

Usually the download speed is much greater than the upload speed (ADSL).

This is commonly OK considering for most people they download much more they upload.

Download speed tests work by transferring a file of a known size from a test server located on the Internet to your figurer, and measuring how long it takes.

A iv MB file will accept 8 secs over a iv Mbits/s link and ii seconds over a 16 Mbits/south link. (see Bits and Bytes).

The upload speed is measured by uploading a file from your PC to the test server and again measuring the time taken.

There are many online exam tools you might want to try these:

  • http://www.speedtest.net/
  • http://diagnostics.bt.com/login/?workflow=Speed
  • http://world wide web.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/diagnostics

At that place are several factors that affect how fast your overall connectedness speed is:

  • The admission technology- e.g. ADSL,4G/3G mobile, Satellite etc
  • Your Isp.
  • The location of your destination server or service.

They all combine together to class a chain (communications link) . Every bit a comparison, If yous imagine traffic driving down a 6 lane road, which becomes a two lane road and.then a 4 lane road. (paradigm Below).
.

Traffic-speed-comparisson

Y'all can come across that the traffic will be restricted by the two lane road.

On the Internet, merely like on a normal route, your final speed will be limited by the slowest link in the chain.

Note: You do non need to install any software on your computer to do a Internet speed test. Exist very wary when using speed exam sites as some with prompt you to install software to improve your computer speed. Some probably are 18-carat, simply information technology is impossible to tell, so I wouldn't practise information technology.

Internet Speed Factors

Several factors bear upon your internet access speeds:

  • Your Access technology
  • Your Internet service provider
  • Location of the remote resources
  • Time of Solar day

Internet Access Applied science

This is the most important factor as far every bit cyberspace admission speed is concerned.

All technologies have limitations. The connection speeds of fiber broadband is far superior to 3G mobile.

See mutual Internet access methods. for an overview with pros and cons of each technology

Your (Internet Service Provider) ISP

You connect to your Isp (using an admission method e.g. ADSL Broadband) and your ISP then connects to the Internet.

Internet-connection-speed-1

ISPs advertise the connection speeds to the subscriber, and non the speeds between the subscriber and the Internet.

In the UK the connection to the home is almost e'er a BT telephone line and ADSL, but fibre is condign increasing popular.

If that is the case then The access speed will exist express by these BT lines regardless of the ISP you choose.

However that doesn't mean that all providers will provide the aforementioned overall connection quality as-.

The connection between the Internet service provider and the Internet is usually over fiber and is fast, merely it is shared by many subscribers.

Therefore if the Internet access provider overloads the link to the Net it slows the connection from subscriber to Cyberspace.

So your Connectedness to the Internet service provider could be 6Mbits/s just from you lot to the Net it could be only 3 Mbits/s.

Here is a quote from the BBC commodity on broadband speeds

Almost half of broadband users are now on packages with advertised speeds to a higher place 10Mbps but the average broadband speed is half-dozen.8Mbps according to Ofcom.

The Location Of The Service/Server On The Internet

The Cyberspace comprises a vast network on interconnected computers and networking equipment due east.thousand routers (diagram below).

Internet-Routing

The number of routers/servers that the information must travel through on the way to and from the destination service/server volition affect the overall speed.

In addition the speed and capacity of the network that inter-links these computers/routers will also affect the final connexion speed.

In general the Internet itself will often be the limiting gene that affects your overall internet speed.

So yous may have a super fast connection to the Internet, only notwithstanding take the same amount of time to download a file from the Internet as someone with a much slower Internet connection.

Time of Day

Y'all may have noticed that the Internet appears to tedious at certain times of day.

This is very similar to rush 60 minutes on the roads.

Here is a uswitch graph showing Internet speeds in the Britain over the day.

speed-graph-uswitch

Notice how the average speed drops from almost 10Mbps to around 6Mbps.

The worst time to exist surfing the net is between 7pm and 9pm.

When doing speed tests it is a practiced thought to do several over the course or a normal twenty-four hours.

Download vs Upload Speeds

When you lot view a website with a web browser you are downloading information from the Internet.

Most people spend about of the time surfing the Internet, and downloading data, which is why the download speed is normally more important than the upload speed.

It is the speed that broadband providers usually display, and what people compare.

Here is a screen shot of the standard BT broadband package, and find in that location is no mention of the upload speed.

T-broadband-downloadspeed

If y'all send email then that electronic mail is uploaded from your PC to the Net.

If you post pictures or videos on YouTube or Facebook then those pictures/images are uploaded to the Internet.

How long that takes will depend on the upload speed of your connection.

Almost broadband packages provide broadband over telephone lines, and apply a technology called ADSL (Asynchronous Digital Subscriber Line ) which has a much faster download speed than upload speed.

If you have an existing broadband connection you can check your upload and download speeds using an online speed tester. Hither are my results:

upload-download-speed-test1

Notice that the upload speed is 21 times slower than the download speed. This means that a file that could be downloaded from the internet in 30 minutes would take over 10 hours to upload to the Internet.

About Internet users aren't currently interested in uploading files to the Net, simply with the growth in popularity of online storage there could be a increment in demand for much faster upload speeds.

The newer cobweb packages from the main Britain broadband providers (BT, SKY, Virgin,Talk Talk) offer significantly faster upload speeds every bit well as faster download speeds

The screen shot below shows the BT Infinity bundle with a download speed (76Mb) , which iv times faster than the upload speed (19Mb).

BT-Superfast-broadband

If y'all are because using the Internet for transferring big files and so you lot should look for a broadband parcel that offers fast upload speeds.

What is a Good Upload or Download Speed?

This really depends on what you want to do with the Net connection.

If you lot want to download and stream movies and so a minimum of 4Mbps is needed.

If there are several people in your household that also watch movies online then you lot would desire a fiddling more speed.

The best indicator of slow network speeds is obtained by using the Internet.

If you detect that that spider web pages take a long time to load, and movies have a long time to buffer, and then you should check your speed.

An easier check is to bank check your ISP advertised speeds against your own speed.

Yous might find that you are paying a premium for a package because of the advertised speed but it is impossible for you to get those speeds because of your location.

Internet Speed Checkers

They are many websites that let you to check your Internet speed similar this online speed tester.

Yet if yous want to monitor your Internet speed on a regular ground and then I recommend the command line to;; called speedtest-cli.

This Github folio as the install and usage instructions

Summary

Speed tests are useful for checking that y'all aren't paying for a connection that you aren't getting.

Still your connection speed is but 1 office of the overall Internet connection, and you lot are unlikely to notice the deviation betwixt a 10Mbit/south connection and a 6Mbit/due south connection when watching, for example, a YouTube video.

The more people you have accessing the Net through your connectedness the more than important your connection speed becomes.

$.25 and Bytes Explained

A byte has viii bits. The size of files stored on your computer is measured in bytes.

1KB =one kilo Bytes =1,000 Bytes and 1MB=1 Million Bytes.

When measuring information transmission speeds the measurement is bits per second or bps

Once more

1 kbps =1 one thousand $.25 per 2d and 1Mbps= 1Million bits/sec

Notice bits has pocket-size b and bytes a large B.

Common Questions and Answers

Q- I measured by upload and download speeds and they are very different to what the broadband provider advertised. Is this normal?

A- Yes. ISPs usually quote the best speeds possible in theory, but not in practice.

Q- I measured by download speed and it is XMbps is it fast plenty?

A- It depends on what you practise, or desire to do with the connexion and how many people use the connexion. Generally speeds above half-dozen-8 Mbps will exist good for most applications.

Q- My Internet connection is irksome what is the reason?

A- It is difficult to say for sure. Information technology could exist your connection to your Internet access provider or it could be the Cyberspace. If you lot check your connectedness and find that your download speed is around 6Mbps or faster then it is likely to be the Internet.

Q- Is it worth changing providers to get a faster internet connection?

A- Because of the fashion broadband is provided it is usually better to attempt changing the access method i.e. go to fiber instead of ADSL.

Q- Can my Wi-Fi be responsible for my low speeds?

A- Yes if you are using old Wi-Fi adapters in your laptop/PC. For example the erstwhile 802.11a standard peaked at effectually 5Mbps. See this Yahoo respond and this most google support tip for details

Q- I am using Cloud storage for backing up information what should I bank check?

A- Yous demand to cheque your upload speed. Generally just fibre broadband supplies good upload speeds.

Q- Is half dozen Mbps fast?

A- You tin can gauge it's speed by how long it takes to transfer data. A 6 MB file will take 8 secs over a six Mbits/s. A standard 1GB picture will take about 22 minutes to download at 6Mbps.

Q- What is more important upload speed or download speed?

A- For most people it will exist the download speed as nigh people will be browsing the web downloading movies etc.

Resources:

  • Bits and bytes explained
  • Written report reveals drop between peak and off-peak surfing
  • Download fourth dimension calculator

Related Articles:

  • Internet Connectedness Methods
  • Troubleshooting Internet Connections
  • Monitor Internet Speeds with Speedtest-cli and Node-Ruby-red
  • Habitation Networking Speeds

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